Original Series

Mar

2017

Review – Another Piece of the Action

It’s another piece!

Another Piece of the Action Background

Barking up the Muse Tree | jespah | Janet Gershen-Siegel | Another Piece of the Action

Another Piece of the Action (cover by thebluesman)

During the time period just after You Mixed-Up Siciliano, in January of 3110, Kirko, Spock and the boys join Temporal Agents Richard Daniels, Sheilagh Bernstein, and Deirdre Katzman in handling Bela Oxmyx and his cronies. This is a collaborative story with the bluesman.

Isn’t the cover just fantastic? Justin made it. I have a copy (signed by him) hanging in my computer room.

Plot

As a means of getting back to the story, we decided on time travel. The Temporal Integrity Commission would have to fix the problems which Kirk and company had compounded at the end of the canon episode, when someone left a communicator behind.

I decided to use Richard Daniels, Sheilagh Bernstein, and Deirdre Katzman as my part of the cast. These characters would have the specialties needed, e. g. a jack of all trades like Rick, a computers person like Sheilagh, and then Deirdre would be the engineer.

Justin (the bluesman) opted to mainly handle the canon characters as we wrote the story. Together, we weaved a story whereby the plot would be fixed, our characters would happily cross over and work together for a common cause, and we even got to throw in a little humor and flirting along the way. Plus Sheilagh tells Spock his computers are primitive.

Story Postings

Rating

The story is Rated K.

Upshot

We had a blast with this collaboration. I would have loved to have done it again. But sadly, Justin passed on, on December 22, 2016. He was a dear friend and a kind, talented, patient, and generous collaborator. I miss him.

Like this page? Tweet it!

You can find me on Google+.

Dec

2016

Portrait of a Character – Janice Rand

Janice Rand deserves better than canon gave her.

Origins

This character was removed from canon way too prematurely. Hence I try to remedy that with fanfiction.

Portrayal

Grace Lee Whitney appearing at a science fiction convention in Houston, Texas, United States. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

As in canon, Janice is played by the late actress Grace Lee Whitney.

This lovely and bright actress got a raw deal. Why? Because the show runners wanted Kirk to be the bachelor captain with a girl in every port. So Whitney’s fatal flaw was having chemistry with him that was a little too good.

She was unceremoniously let go from a job that she loved and, by all accounts, was good at. I so wish that hadn’t happened. I think Whitney could have stayed with the show throughout its run.

Personality

Subservient but also smart, Yeoman Rand could have gone further. I have always felt there could have been a lot more to her; also her character arc should have been better. But the times and the network were in the way.

Relationships

James T. Kirk

So as I write her in the Mirror, she and Kirk have a real relationship, pre-Marlene Moreau.

Mirror Universe

The truth is, right now, the only way I am showing Janice is in the Mirror, where she was never a part of canon.

Portrait of a Character – Janice Rand

As a result, in my fan fiction, she is Captain James T. Kirk‘s Captain’s Woman right before Marlena Moreau.

And Marlena can’t stand the competition.

Janice’s fate is to be stabbed to death by Marlena in the latter’s inexorable rise to power, which leads to the first MU episode ever, Mirror, Mirror.

Quote

“Marlena Moreau!”

Upshot

I so should write more prequel action with her. I bet she would be more assertive and sexy in the Mirror Universe.

Like this page? Tweet it!

You can find me on Google+.

Aug

2016

Review – Timeless

Timeless is where I just wanted to put right what I felt had gone wrong. But of course you can’t really do that. Hence it serves as almost (almost!) my own personal Quantum Leap episode, much like Theorizing.

Background

When actor Leonard Nimoy passed away, there was a special free write and the idea of ‘saving’ him was an irresistible one. Add in the crew from the Temporal Integrity Commission, and a little bit of silliness got to creep in as well.

Plot

Clockworks – Deep Future

Therefore, in 3115, the Human Unit at the Temporal Integrity Commission decides to save one special Vulcan.

I wanted Spock (a character I have always had something of a love/hate relationship with – I tend to see Dr. McCoy’s point of view more than Spock’s in the old TOS arguments) to have a kind of ethereal quality. Plus I wanted the TIC to occasionally bend their own rules. The action takes place after they have done just that, and saved Milena Chelenska on her deathbed. Hence there is a precedent for this behavior, and the precedent even winds back to First Born and saving Jun Daniels Sato.

Because Spock Prime is also a part of the Eriecho stories (and the Kelvin timeline in canon, of course), this act affects numerous timelines. Megaotric? Maybe not exactly, but it’s definitely a pariotric change.

Story Postings

Rating

The story is rated K.

Upshot

In some ways, I may have overdone things. Spock gets his resurrection and, in a way, so does Leonard Nimoy. Yet some of it feels like I was forcing a square peg into a round hole.

Yet in addition, it also feels almost unfair that this cannot really happen. Science, get on this, stat!

Like this page? Tweet it!

You can find me on Google+.

Sep

2015

Recurrent Themes – Plant Lovers

Plant lovers inform many of my stories.

Background

Botanists and plant lovers are canon. In the original Star Trek series, Sulu and Rand both attend to plants. In The Next Generation and Deep Space Nine, Keiko Ishikawa O’Brien is a Botanist.

For an older ship like the NX-01, I felt like there absolutely had to be a Botanist.

Appearances

Naomi Curtis

Only seen during If You Can’t Stand the Heat, I’ve retconned her and now consider her to be the first Botanist on the NX-01 Enterprise. Much like Preston Jennings is shifted over to Navigation and Lili O’Day is hired for the Xindi War, Naomi is thrown over for the better skilled and more versatile Shelby. A pity for Chef Will Slocum, as she’s an early love interest for him. But they do get to fight off the Darvellians together.

Shelby Pike

Pike is the best-realized of my botany and plant-loving characters. Her talents range from growing food crops to keeping everyone sane with flowers, colorful fruits, and other pleasant reminders of home.

Eriecho

A true gardener and homebody at heart, Eriecho grows yellow peppers. It’s at her garden patch that she and Sollastek first scandalously hold hands.

Von

A Ferengi engineer at the Temporal Integrity Commission, Von is also an amateur gardener, and gives Sheilagh Bernstein a yellow tulip while she’s deciding whether to join the commission.

Michael Nolan

Gina Nolan‘s late husband is in his Beijing lab, studying Bajoran dicotyledons, when he’s killed during the Breen attack on Earth.

Other Characters

The Hayes family and the Warren family farm during Concord, but that’s more a matter of survival and economics rather than study. Many of the Daranaean women also garden. And in particular they will grow Krivian weed, which is shaped into a type of boxwood-style hedge. But that’s not just for beauty’s sake. They can chew Krivian weed in order to determine the gender of a fetus a pregnant woman is carrying. In the E² timeline, Esilia and the other Ikaaran women farm as a part of their obligation to their government.

Upshot

They may have their heads in the stars, but their feet are on the ground; they’re the gardeners, Botanists, farmers, and plant lovers of Star Trek.

Like this page? Tweet it!

You can find me on Google+.

Original Series

Review – Another Piece of the Action

Review – Another Piece of the Action

Another Piece of the Action Background

Plot

Story Postings

Rating

Upshot

Like this:

Portrait of a Character – Janice Rand

Portrait of a Character – Janice Rand

Origins

Portrayal

Personality